The Season of Advent:
Anticipation and Hope

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the
Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day,
which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24).
If Christmas Eve is a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent,
with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown.

This is an Advent symbol of
Jesus from Rev 1:8 and 22:13: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega [the first
and the last, the beginning and the end],' says the Lord God, who is and who
was and who is to come, the Almighty" (see also Isaiah 44:6).

The
blue letter is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, and the
purple is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, Omega. Not only does
this symbolize the One who has come and will come again, it also emphasizes
the continuity of God's work in history throughout both the Old and New
Testaments.

The Meaning of "Advent"

The
word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire
season is preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First
Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second
Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event
in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in
Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process
in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate.
Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second
Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming,
judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.

In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the
spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that
Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will
come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom
ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live "between
the times" and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us
as God’s people. So, as the church celebrates God’s inbreaking into history
in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history
for which "all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption," it also
confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to "love the Lord
your God with all your heart" and to "love your neighbor as yourself."

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of
preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils
of the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out
from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced
the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have
hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves
and brought deliverance!

It is that hope, however faint at times, and that God, however distant He
sometimes seems, which brings to the world the anticipation of a King who
will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and in
His creation. It is that hope that once anticipated, and now anticipates
anew, the reign of an Anointed One, a Messiah, who will bring peace and
justice and righteousness to the world.

Part of the expectation also anticipates a judgment on sin and a calling
of the world to accountability before God. We long for God to come and set
the world right! Yet, as the prophet Amos warned, the expectation of a
coming judgment at the "Day of the Lord" may not be the day of light that we
might want, because the penetrating light of God’s judgment on sin will
shine just as brightly on God’s people.

Because of this important truth, especially in the Eastern Orthodox
Churches, the Season of Advent has been a time of fasting and penitence
for sins similar to the Season of Lent. However, a different emphasis for
the season of Advent has gradually unfolded in much of the rest of the
church. The season of Advent has come to be celebrated more in terms of
expectation or anticipation. Yet, the anticipation of the Coming of the
Messiah throughout the Old Testament and Judaism was not in connection
with remembrance of sins. Rather, it was in the context of oppression and
injustice, the longing for redemption, not from personal guilt and sin but
from the systemic evil of the world expressed in evil empires and tyrants.
It is in that sense that all creation groans for its redemption as we
witness the evil that so dominates our world (Rom 8:18-25).

Of course, there is the problem of longing for vindication from an evil
world when we are contributors to that evil. This is the power of the
images of Amos when he warns about longing for the "Day of the Lord" that
will really be a day of darkness (Amos 5:18-20). Still, even with Amos’
warning the time of Advent is one of expectation and anticipation, a
longing for God's actions to restore all things and vindicate the
righteous. This is why during Advent we as Christians also anticipate the
Second Coming as a twin theme of the season. So, while some church
traditions focus on penitence during Advent, and there remains a place for
that, the spirit of that
expectation from the Old Testament is better captured with a joyous sense
of expectancy. Rather than a time of mourning and fasting, Advent is
celebrated as a time of joy and happiness as we await the coming of the
King. (see Can We Sing Christmas Carols During
Advent?)

There will be time enough during the rest of the journey through the
Church Year to remember our sins. It begins in Epiphany when we hear about
the brotherhood of the Kingdom, and realize our failure to effect it. Then
as we move toward and through Lent we realize that the coming of Jesus
served more to lay bare our own sin than it did to vindicate our
righteousness. There will be time to shed Peter's bitter tears as we
realize that what started with such possibility and expectation has
apparently ended in such failure.

It is only as we experience that full cycle, beginning with unbridled
joy in Advent that slowly fades into the realization of what we have done
with and to the Christ, that the awful reality of Good Friday can have its
full impact. And in that realization we can finally be ready to hear the
Good News on Resurrection Sunday! That is the journey that the disciples
took. And so there is value in taking the same journey beginning with the
anticipation and joy of Advent!

So, we celebrate with gladness the great promise in the Advent, yet
knowing that there is also a somber tone as the theme of threat is added
to the theme of promise. This is reflected in some of the Scripture readings for
Advent, in which there is a strong prophetic tone of accountability and
judgment on sin. But this is also faithful to the role of the Coming King
who comes to rule, save, and judge the world.

Because of the dual themes of threat and promise, Advent is a time of
preparation that is marked by prayer. While Lent
is characterized by fasting and a spirit of penitence, Advent’s prayers are
prayers of humble devotion and commitment, prayers of submission, prayers
for deliverance, prayers from those walking in darkness who are awaiting
and
anticipating a
great light (Isa 9)!

The spirit of Advent is expressed well in the parable of the bridesmaids
who are anxiously awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom
(Matt 25:1-13). There is profound
joy at the Bridegroom’s expected coming. And yet a warning of the need for
preparation echoes through the parable. But even then, the prayer of Advent
is still:

Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is
Purple. This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King.
Purple is still used in some traditions (for example Roman Catholic). The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and
Holy Week. This points to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and
death. The nativity, the Incarnation, cannot be separated from the
crucifixion. The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world, of
the "Word made flesh" and dwelling among us, is to reveal God and His grace
to the world through Jesus’ life and teaching, but also through his
suffering, death, and resurrection. To reflect this emphasis, originally
Advent was a time of penitence and fasting, much as the Season of Lent and
so shared the color of Lent.

In the four weeks of Advent the third Sunday came to be a time of
rejoicing that the fasting was almost over (in some traditions it is
called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word for "rejoice"). The shift
from the purple of the Season to pink or rose for the third Sunday
Advent candles reflected this lessening emphasis on penitence as
attention turned more to celebration of the season.

In recent times, however, Advent has undergone a shift in emphasis,
reflected in a change of colors used in many churches. Except in
the Eastern churches, the penitential aspect of the Season has been
almost totally replaced by an emphasis on hope and anticipation.

In many churches the third Sunday remains the Sunday of Joy marked by
pink or rose. However, most Protestant churches now use blue to distinguish the Season of Advent
from Lent. Royal Blue
is sometimes used as a symbol of royalty. Some churches use Bright Blue to symbolize the night sky,
the anticipation of the impending announcement of the King’s coming, or to
symbolize the waters of Genesis 1, the beginning of a new creation. Some
churches, including some Catholic churches, use blue violet to preserve the
traditional use of purple while providing a visual distinction between the
purple or red violet of Lent.

This does not eliminate any sense of penitence from the Season.
With the focus on the Advent or Coming of Jesus, especially in
anticipating His Second Advent, there remains a need for preparation for
that coming. Most liturgical churches incorporate confessional prayers
into the services of Advent that relate to a sense of unworthiness as we anticipate
His Coming. It is appropriate even in more traditional services of
worship to incorporate confessional prayers as part of the anticipation
and preparation of the Season.

With the shift to blue for Advent in most non-Catholic churches, some
churches retain pink among the Advent colors, but use it on the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
It still remains associated with Joy, but is sometimes used as the
climax of the Advent Season on the last Sunday before Christmas.

Red and Green are more secular
colors of Christmas. They derive from older European practices of
using evergreens and holly to symbolize ongoing life and hope that
Christ’s birth brings into a cold world. Although red and green
are often used as part of the church decorations (see below), they are never used as liturgical
colors during Advent since those colors have other uses in other parts of the
church year (see Colors of the Church Year).

The beginning of Advent is a time for the hanging
of the green, decoration of the church with evergreen wreaths, boughs,
or trees that help to symbolize the new and everlasting life brought through
Jesus the Christ. Some churches have a special weekday service, or the first
Sunday evening of Advent, or even the first Sunday morning of Advent, in
which the church is decorated and the Advent wreath put in place. This
service is most often primarily of music, especially choir and hand bells,
and Scripture reading, along with an explanation of the various symbols as
they are placed in the sanctuary.

The
Advent wreath is an increasingly popular symbol of the beginning of the
Church year in many churches as well as homes. It is a circular evergreen
wreath (real or artificial) with five candles, four around the wreath and
one in the center. Since the wreath is symbolic and a vehicle to tell the
Christmas story, there are various ways to understand the symbolism. The
exact meaning given to the various aspects of the wreath is not as important
as the story to which it invites us to listen, and participate.

The circle of the wreath reminds us of God Himself, His eternity
and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end. The green of the wreath
speaks of the hope that we have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of
eternal life. Candles
symbolize the light of God coming into the world through the birth of His
son. The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during
the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves symbolize the four centuries of
waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ.

The colors of the candles vary with different traditions, but
there are usually three purple or blue candles, corresponding to the
sanctuary colors of Advent, and one pink or rose candle. One of the purple
candles is lighted the first Sunday of Advent, a Scripture is read, a short
devotional or reading is given, and a prayer offered. On subsequent Sundays,
previous candles are relighted with an additional one lighted. The pink
candle is usually lighted on the third Sunday of Advent. However, different
churches or traditions light the pink candle on different Sundays depending
on the symbolism used (see above on Colors
of Advent). In Churches that use a
Service of the Nativity, it is often lighted on the fourth Sunday of
Advent, the final Sunday before Christmas.

The light of the candles itself becomes an important symbol of the
season. The light reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world that comes
into the darkness of our lives to bring newness, life, and hope. It also
reminds us that we are called to be a light to the world as we reflect the
light of God's grace to others (Isa 42:6). The progression in the lighting
of the candles symbolizes the various aspects of our waiting experience. As
the candles are lighted over the four week period, it also symbolizes the
darkness of fear and hopelessness receding and the shadows of sin falling
away as more and more light is shed into the world. The flame of each new
candle reminds the worshippers that something is happening, and that more is
yet to come. Finally, the light that has come into the world is plainly
visible as the Christ candle is lighted at Christmas, and worshippers
rejoice over the fact that the hope and promise of long ago have been realized.

The first candle is traditionally the candle of Expectation
or Hope (or in some traditions, Prophecy). This draws attention to
the anticipation of the coming of an Anointed One, a Messiah, that weaves its way like a
golden thread through Old Testament history. As God’s people were abused by
power hungry kings, led astray by self-centered prophets, and lulled into
apathy by half-hearted religious leaders, there arose a longing among some
for God to raise up a new king who could show them how to be God’s people.
They yearned for a return of God’s dynamic presence in their midst.

And so, God revealed to some of the prophets that indeed He would not
leave His people without a true Shepherd. While they expected a new earthly
king, their expectations fell far short of God’s revelation of Himself in
Christ. And yet, the world is not yet fully redeemed. So, we again
with expectation, with hope, await God’s new work in history, the second
Advent, in which He will again reveal Himself to the world. And we
understand in a profound sense that the best, the highest of our
expectations will fall far short of what our Lord’s Second Advent will
reveal!

The remaining three candles of Advent may be associated with
different aspects of the Advent story in different churches, or even in
different years. Usually they are organized around characters or themes as a
way to unfold the story and direct attention to the celebrations and worship
in the season. So, the sequence for the remaining three Sundays might be
Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels. Or Love, Joy, Peace. Or John the Baptist,
Mary, the Magi. Or the Annunciation, Proclamation, Fulfillment. Whatever
sequence is used, the Scripture readings, prayers, lighting of the candles,
the participation of worshipers in the service, all are geared to unfolding
the story of redemption through God’s grace in the Incarnation.

The third candle, usually for the Third Sunday of Advent, is traditionally
Pink or Rose, and symbolizes Joy at the soon Advent of the Christ.
It marks a shift from the more solemn tone of the first two Sundays of
Advent that focus on Preparation and Hope, to a more joyous atmosphere of
anticipation and expectancy. Sometimes the colors of the sanctuary and vestments are also changed to Rose
for this Sunday. As noted above, in some churches the
pink Advent candle is used on the fourth Sunday to mark the joy at the
impending Nativity of Jesus.

Whatever sequence is adopted for these Sundays, the theme
of Joy can still be the focus for the pink candle. For example, when using the third Sunday to
commemorate the visit of the Magi the focus can be on the Joy of worshipping
the new found King. Or the Shepherds as the symbol for the third Sunday
brings to mind the joy of the proclamation made to them in the fields, and
the adoration expressed as they knelt before the Child at the manger. If
used on the fourth Sunday of Advent, it can symbolize the Joy in fulfilled
hope.

The center candle is white and is called the Christ Candle.
It is traditionally lighted on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. However, since many
Protestant churches do not have services on those days, many light it on the
Sunday preceding Christmas, with all five candles continuing to be lighted
in services through Epiphany (Jan 6). The
central location of the Christ Candle reminds us that the incarnation is
the heart of the season, giving light to the world.

Advent is one of the few Christian festivals that can be observed in the
home as well as at church. In its association with Christmas, Advent
is a natural time to involve children in activities at home that directly
connect with worship at church. In the home an Advent wreath is often
placed on the dining table and the candles lighted at meals, with Scripture readings
preceding the lighting of the candles, especially on Sunday. A new candle is
lighted each Sunday during the four weeks, and then the same candles are
lighted each meal during the week. In this context, it provides the
opportunity for family devotion and prayer together, and helps teach the
Faith to children, especially if they are involved in reading the daily
Scriptures.

It is common in many homes to try to mark the beginning of Advent in
other ways as well, for the same purpose of instruction in the faith. Some
families decorate the house for the beginning of Advent, or bake special
cookies or treats, or simply begin to use table coverings for meals. An
Advent Calendar is a way to keep children involved in the entire
season. There are a wide variety of Advent calendars, but usually
they are simply a card or poster with windows that can be opened, one each
day of Advent, to reveal some symbol or picture associated with the Old
Testament story leading up to the birth of Jesus. One unique and
specialized Advent calendar that can be used either in the home or the
sanctuary is a Jesse Tree. (We have
available an online Advent calendar with devotionals for each day of
Advent as well as Christmas through Epiphany Day:
NazNet's Advent and Christmas Celebration). All of these provide
opportunities to teach children the significance of this sacred time, and
to remind ourselves of it as well.

In congregational worship, the Advent wreath is the central teaching
symbol of the season, the focal point for drawing the congregation into the
beginning of the story of redemption that will unfold throughout the church
year. For this reason, members of the congregation are often involved in
lighting the Advent candles and reading the appropriate Scriptures each
Sunday. While in some churches it is customary for this to be done by
families, it can also be an especially good opportunity to demonstrate the
unity of the entire community of Faith by including those without families,
such as those never married, divorced, widowed, elderly who live by
themselves, or college students away from home.

We live in a world in which bigger and better define our expectations
for much of life. We have become so enamored by super size, super stars,
and high definition that we tend to view life through a lens that so
magnifies what we expect out of the world that we tend not to see
potential in small things. But as the prophet Zechariah reminds us (Zech
4:10), we should not "despise the day of small things," because God does
some of his best work with small beginnings and impossible situations.

It is truly a humbling experience to read back through the Old Testament
and see how frail and imperfect all the "heroes" actually are. Abraham, the
coward who cannot believe the promise. Jacob, the cheat who struggles with
everybody. Joseph, the immature and arrogant teen. Moses, the impatient
murderer who cannot wait for God. Gideon, the cowardly Baal-worshipper.
Samson, the womanizing drunk. David, the power abusing adulterer. Solomon,
the unwise wise man. Hezekiah, the reforming king who could not quite go far
enough. And finally, a very young Jewish girl from a small village in a
remote corner of a great empire.

It never ceases to amaze me that God often begins with small things and
inadequate people. It certainly seems that God could have chosen
"bigger" things and "better" people
to do His work in the world. Yet if God can use them, and reveal Himself
through them in such marvelous ways, it means that He might be able to use
me, inadequate, and unwise, and too often lacking in faith that I am. And it
means that I need to be careful that I do not in my own self-righteousness
put limits on what God can do with the smallest things, the most unlikely of people, in the most
hopeless of circumstances. I think that is part of the wonder of the
Advent Season.

I am convinced that one of the main purposes of the incarnation of
Jesus was to provide hope. While most people today want to talk about
the death of Jesus and the Atonement of sins, the early Church
celebrated the Resurrection and the hope it embodied. It was a
proclamation of a truth that rang throughout the Old Testament, that
endings are not always endings but are opportunities for God to bring
new beginnings. The Resurrection proclaimed that truth even about
humanity’s greatest fear, death itself.

Both the season of Advent and the season of
Lent are about hope. It is not just hope for a better day or hope
for the lessening of pain and suffering, although that is certainly a
significant part of it. It is more about hope that human existence has
meaning and possibility beyond our present experiences, a hope that the
limits of our lives are not nearly as narrow as we experience them to
be. It is not that wehave possibility in ourselves, but
that God is a God of new things and so all things are
possible (Isa 42:9, Mt 19:26, Mk 14:36)

God's people in the first century wanted Him to come and change their
oppressive circumstances, and were angry when those immediate
circumstances did not change. But that is a short sighted view of the
nature of hope. Our hope cannot be in circumstances, no matter how badly
we want them or how important they are to us. The reality of human
existence, with which the Book of Job
struggles, is that God's people experience that physical existence in
the same way that others do. Christians get sick and die, Christians are
victims of violent crimes, and Christians are hurt and killed in traffic
accidents, bombings, war, and in some parts of the world, famine (see
The Problem of Natural Evil).

If our hope is only in our circumstances, as we define them to be
good or as we want them to be to make us happy, we will always be
disappointed. That is why we hope, not in circumstances, but in God. He
has continually, over the span of four thousand years, revealed himself
to be a God of newness, of possibility, of redemption, the recovery or
transformation of possibility from endings that goes beyond what we can
think or even imagine (Eph 3:20). The best example of that is the
crucifixion itself, followed by the resurrection. That shadow of the
cross falls even over the manger.

Yet, it all begins in the hope that God will come and come again into
our world to reveal himself as a God of newness, of possibility, a God
of new things. This time of year we contemplate that hope
embodied, enfleshed, incarnated, in a newborn baby, the perfect example
of newness, potential, and possibility. During Advent, we groan and long
for that newness with the hope, the expectation, indeed the faith, that
God will once again be faithful to see our circumstances, to hear our
cries, to know our longings for a better world and a whole life (Ex
3:7). And we hope that as he first came as an infant, so he will
come again as King! (See The Second Coming)

My experience tells me that those who have suffered and still hope
understand far more about God and about life than those who have not.
Maybe that is what hope is about: a way to live, not just to survive,
but to live authentically amidst all the problems of life with a Faith
that continues to see possibility when there is no present evidence of
it, just because God is God. That is also the wonder of Advent.